The
Film Fleadh is upon us again, where the craic is not just mighty
but a fitting description of the space available to you in the Rowing
Club on the banks of the Corrib after 11 o'clock any night. Since
grabbing the headlines with it's World Premiere of Jordan's The
Butcher Boy in 1997 the Fleadh has had the difficult task of not
only living up to its media hype but dealing with a huge increase
in the numbers attending.
Festival programmer
Pat Collins had the added disadvantage this year of a Dublin Film
Festival shoved far enough forward to ensnare a lot of the Irish
releases which are normally only completed in time to get their
first airing in Galway. However, he's acquitted himself admirably.
On the Irish front the
big 'media' screening will be the Irish Premiere of Agnes Browne,
aka Brendan O'Carroll's The Mammy, directed by Anjelica Huston and
starring Rosaleen Linehan on the opening night, Tuesday 6th, which
garnished luke warm reviews in Cannes. Closing the Fleadh on Sunday
the 11th is Felicia's Journey, Atom Egoyan's adaptation of the William
Trevor novel, with Claire Benedict, Brid Brennan and Bob Hoskins.
If it lives up to The Sweet Hereafter then it should prove to be
one of the Fleadh's highlights. Sandwiched in between is a pleasing
mix of premiere's, recent Irish releases continuing their round
of the Festivals, and some intriguing International films and documentaries.
Bob Quinn premiere's "It must be Done Right", a profile of one of
Ireland's few true artists, the actor Donal McCann. Other premiere's
include Nicola Bruce's I Could Read the Sky, the tale of an Irish
emigrant in England , Bill Mileduir's Exiled, which concerns a group
of provo sympathisers in New York, and Cillian Murphy's Sunburn
which follows a group of young Irish students throughout a summer's
jobbing in Long Island.
This year's open interview
will be with that bloke from Bracken, Gabriel Byrne (supported by
screenings of Defence of the Realm and Millers Crossing amongst
others), while English director Michael Winterbottom will give the
director's masterclass, supported by a screening of Wonderland,
his riveting depiction of 70's Britain.
35-A-Side director Damien
O'Donnell brings us his first feature East Is East, fresh from Canne's,
Stephen Elliot's follow up to Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the
oddly named Welcome to Woop Woop, is on late night in the Town Hall
on Friday 9th , and the Berlin Film Festival Winner, Nightscapes
shows shows late on the Wednesday night . There's a strong strand
of Dogme '95 product, Thomas Vintenburg's Festen gets a much deserved
airing outside Dublin, as does Lars Von Trier's The Idiots and Soren
Kragh Jacobsen's Mifune. To top it off there's also Jesper Jargil's
documentary following the movement, The Humiliated.
Delightful little oddity's
abound also; the winner of the Sundance Award for best documentary,
Genghis Blues is a fly-on -the -wall about a blues singer who set
out travelling the world to learn the ancient art of throat singing,
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty sneaks along on the Thursday afternoon,
there's a tribute to the work of the late Japanese animator Renzo
Kinoshita, renowned in his own country but never before seen on
the big screen in Ireland and Chuck Workman's 'The Source' is documents
that howling Beat generation, with interviews from Allen Ginsberg
and William Burroughs.. And what film festival would be complete
without the appearance of the Todger of Arthouse himself, Mr Harvey
Keitel, who pops up again (fooar) in the Vietnamese film Three Seasons.
'The Saltmen Of Tibet'
follows a group of Tibetan Herdsmen to a holy lake; Donal Haughey
makes another of his regular Fleadh contibutions with the documentary
'Books In The Blood' which follows the story of Kenny's bookshop,
one of Galway's most famous landmarks, while Luke, a portrait of
everyone's favourite Dubliner, premieres on the Sunday night.John
Carney and Tom Hall's Park continues it's festival circuit with
a Fleadh outing, as does Declan Recks Making Ends Meet which went
down well in Dublin.
As usual there's the
Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning screenings of shorts, documentaries
and college projects by those anxious to break through and nauseous
from the Rowing Club's excesses the previous night…. And as Alan
Partridge would say ," D'ere's More to it den Dat"…
The 11th Galway Film
Fleadh runs from the 6th to the 11th of July.
For more information
Contact:
Galway Film Fleadh,
Cluain Mhuire,
Monivea Rd,
Galway,
Ireland.
Tel: 00 353 91 751655,
Fax: 00353 91 770746.
e-mail: gafleadh@iol.ie.
http://Ireland.iol.ie/~galfilm/fleadh
